Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Life's Little Luxuries

I have a confession to make: I want to be one of those top-shelf, pampered, luxury-loving women of leisure. Unfortunately, I am VERY uncomfortable every time I try to be. Spas make me nervous and uncomfortable. It took me 4 months of going with people to get used to pedicures and manicures, and I completely stopped them after I moved and had to find a new place with people who weren't used to me. Luxury packages and "higher level" rooms/suites/etc tend to make me feel gypped, and so on.

This got me thinking about what I consider luxuries. Life's little gratuitous extra pleasures that make me feel SOOOOO decadent and spoiled. And they're not the presidential suite at the Bellagio....that's just an overpriced room.

No, for me, some of my luxuries are:

Taking a bath or shower when I don't need one, just want one. AHHH.....the wonders of hot water cascading down your skin, or that lovely scented water you can just sink into. How much more decadent can you get? You are wasting time, wasting water, and hiding from the world in your bathroom. I think this luxury links to my being hooked on handmade soaps and bath products....

Opening a new something before the other one is used up. Ahh, the luxury of a new lip gloss when I am sick of the old one that I still have half a tube of. The wonders of sample soaps, so I can use a fresh scent for a week and set the full-sized bar to the side, the annoyance to my husband of two open shampoos...or sodas...or wines.

Good food that is bad for me - Whether I have cooked it or not. Whether I get it in a bakery, a little street corner shop, or a fancy restaurant. That madeline dipped in whipped cream; that elephant ear cookie; The buttered handmade bread fresh out of the oven; whatever it is, it feels like such a luxury eating it...ESPECIALLY if it is between meals!

Curling up in a blanket in the middle of a day with a book - Again, this is especially luxurious if you have somehting you "should" be doing. Not necessarily because you are skirking work, but more like "I really SHOULD finish grading these papers first, THEN I can read," but instead, you cur up and read for an hour then do the papers. AAAhhhhh.